Real Estate Listings Break Free

In case you have not read yet, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has just won a huge antitrust case against the Department of Justice, which has given online realtors full access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) databases. The NAR has restricted full access to the MLS for online realtors up until now so this comes as great news for real estate professionals who are taking advantage of their online presence.

You can find the whole story here if you would like to learn more about the details.

If you are asking what this all means, whether you are a real estate professional or consumer, than check out this information provided by Realtor.org:

What the Settlement Means for:

Consumers:Consumers have always been able to access and view all publicly available listing information on the Web site of their broker of choice.

NAR members: The proposed order ensures that the online environment in which listings are displayed is the fairest possible. It preserves the right of seller clients and brokers to protect the proper display of the listings while ensuring the widest possible online display.

Broker-owners:The proposed order provides clear rules for operating a virtual office Web site (VOW) and preserves the right to determine whether or not listings are displayed on other brokers’ Web sites. It also gives sellers the right to prohibit certain features, such as home-value estimates and blog posts, to accompany the display on VOWs.

Association and MLS executives: If a state or local association owns and operates its own MLS, NAR will request that the MLS adopt and implement the revised Virtual Office Web site (VOW) policy within 90 days of the effective date of the order — which we anticipate will be late summer.

If you are still not quite sure how this affects your particular business or home search than feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to provide a more in depth synopsis.